strangercat in a strange land

so the guide books are just crap for the netherlands. first of all, in neither the dutch phrasebook or the lonely planet does it mention that the dutch pronounce their w with a "v" sound, more like germans. luckily that is what they do, as the words just look like that's what they should be anyway.

in case you haven't noticed, its very late (for me, 0114 is rather late to be up). tonight beldade's friends from work went out to get a beer or 2 and i joined them. it is true that after restaurants or bars, one smells like smoke, although the experience of being in the bar is not so nasty, you don't really notice it. one of patricia's lovely friends asked me if i'd gotten used to being kissed.

the guide book said that the dutch don't really kiss. somehow i'd been projecting that outward and i didnit' have to get used to kissing because no kissing had happened. then when she left she told me that it was one of those moments when you awkwardly decide whether to kiss the american... so i learned that its three kisses, which would have been a much more useful thing to put in the book than zero. (when leaving the bar, i said my goodbyes to a frenchman and an american woman. in retrospect, i suppose we should have gone through the kissing thing there, i'm still hesitating on my bold and emotional side taking over in situations when it should be in the drivers' seat.)

ok, the promised picture (assuming i figure out how to put it up)... apparently the cat doesn't read Dutch either (you can guess what DICHT means).

~Doeg~